Alijah Holder compares favorably to one of his Broncos teammates
Denver Broncos undrafted rookie Alijah Holder compares favorably to one of his new teammates in the defensive backfield.
The Denver Broncos didn’t have a seventh-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft when everything was all said and done, but if they had kept all their picks, they probably would have spent one on Stanford cornerback Alijah Holder.
Holder was a three-time Pac 12 All-academic selection at Stanford and was given one of the highest signing bonuses ($18,000) of any Broncos undrafted free agent in 2019.
The team clearly feels pretty highly about this young player, even though he wasn’t drafted.
Holder has outstanding size, length, and quickness for the cornerback position.
If you take a look at the ‘Comparisons’ tab on that chart showing all of Holder’s pre-draft measurements and how he stacks up against other cornerbacks, one of the top players he compares to physically is Broncos 2018 third-round pick Isaac Yiadom, who is expected to be a candidate to start in 2019.
Holder and Yiadom have almost the exact same height/weight/wingspan/broad jump numbers, but Yiadom has him beat by nearly .10 in the 40-yard dash.
What really stands out about Holder? His short-area quickness.
He was second among all cornerbacks at this year’s Scouting Combine with an awesome 6.70 in the three-cone drill. That time puts him in the 93rd percentile among all skill position players.
What does that quickness allow Holder to do? It allows him to change directions quickly and fluidly without losing top speed.
Considering his top speed is not great (4.60), that short area quickness is huge for him gaining an advantage, especially playing in zone coverage where he can read and react to the ball.
Holder played in a similar defense at Stanford to the one he’s going to play with in Denver where Vic Fangio is the head coach. Fangio was at one point the defensive coordinator at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh and many of his principles are still in use there.
He finished his college career with just two interceptions, but Holder had 28 pass breakups in his career
His college resumeé is quite intriguing, to say the least. He played a game against San Diego State where he guarded his identical twin brother. He took an interception for a touchdown off of eventual first-round pick Josh Rosen. He sealed an overtime victory for the Cardinal by breaking up a pass in the end zone against Justin Herbert and Oregon.
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A couple of injuries likely limited Holder from having the type of career he hoped he could have at Stanford, but regardless of the path he took, he wound up in Denver at camp with the Broncos as one of the team’s most coveted free agents.
He’s one to watch at training camp in 2019.